OHIO – When driving to Northwest Ohio last week I noticed after getting outside of the more populated counties like Franklin and Delaware and into more farm counties such as Hardin County, some of the farmland had some of the same signs erected that said, “no solar farms on Farmland.” as in Pickaway County.
If you travel to most areas of rural Ohio where a solar farm is being proposed most likely you will see one of these signs, in fact, recently opposition from groups against solar tipped the scales and had a huge proposed farm in Williamsport backed out. In 2022 over Ten counties have passed resolutions blocking the development of solar or wind electric farms.
Today the Ohio Power Siting Board denied the application filed by Cepheus Energy Project, LLC to construct a 68 megawatt (MW) solar-powered electric generating facility in Delaware Township and Sherwood Village, Defiance County. The OPSB found that, based on the unanimous opposition to the project by local governments whose constituents are impacted by the project, the proposed project would fail to serve the “public interest, convenience, and necessity” as required by Ohio law. The OPSB noted that all three local governments in the Cepheus Energy Project area – the Village of Sherwood, the Defiance County Board of Commissioners, and the Delaware Township Trustees – opposed the project and that the public comments filed in the case, which largely disfavor the project, reinforce the local government opposition.
Environmentalists opposed Senate Bill 52, which gave counties the new authority, to create more community input into the power siting boards’ decisions. Giving the people power to voice their feelings towards having a solar or wind farm in their backyard.
Currently, Ohio is 23rd in the National ranking on solar with 797.2 Mega Watts of power, and 21st in Wind Farms with 1,11.2 Megawatts of power.
